Chris Daly is a writer, journalist, professor, and historian.
I live near Boston and teach at Boston University. Before that, I worked for many years for The Associated Press and for The Washington Post, where I was the New England correspondent.

I'm going to read this newly found blog because I think it might make me smarter. Here's hoping.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I have never met this cat, or his owner, John Cole, blog master of the very good Balloon Juice, but it was an awful kick in the gut when I read about his very unfortunate passing this morning. This just sucks.

So sorry, John. And thoughts to your sister, and your brother, who both must be devastated in their own very painful ways. Too sorry.

Here's a link to John's "Cat Blogging" tag, where you can read hundreds of hilarious and tender Tunch posts (example), along with maybe even more cat rescue posts, as BJ is an animal rescue internet haven. (Please see the note at the end of the sad Tunch post.)

Implosion Of Virginia Governor Shows Why We Need To Pay Elected Officials More

The Virginia governor he's talking about: Bob McDonnell. Barro tells us about him right off the bat:

Alex Burns of Politico expresses incredulity that McDonnell has apparently tossed away his presidential ambitions by accepting gifts like a Rolex watch—and a $120,000 payment that may or may not have been a loan—from one of his top donors.

That really doesn't give us the whole story: McDonnell is being investigated by both Virginia law enforcement agencies and the FBI on allegations of very serious wrongdoing:

The money to the corporation and Maureen McDonnell brings to $145,000 the amount Williams gave to assist the McDonnell family in 2011 and 2012 — funds that are now at the center of federal and state investigations.

Williams, the chief executive of dietary supplement manufacturer Star Scientific Inc., also provided a $10,000 check in December as a present to McDonnell’s eldest daughter, Jeanine, intended to help defray costs at her May 2013 wedding, the people said.

Virginia’s first family already is under intense scrutiny for accepting $15,000 from the same chief executive to pay for the catering at the June 2011 wedding of Cailin McDonnell at the Executive Mansion.

All the payments came as McDonnell and his wife took steps to promote the donor’s company and its products.

What's Josh Barro's response to this?

Politicians are human. They want sex and money and power like anybody else. They make crass and boneheaded errors in pursuit of them like anybody else.

But at least on the money dimension, we have a way to reduce the likelihood that elected officials will err: Pay them more.
The Governor of Virginia makes $175,000 a year, and that is, in some sense, a lot of money. It’s about three times the median household income in the state. It’s plenty of money to live a nice lifestyle on.

But it’s not nearly enough money to match the lifestyle of the sort of people you become surrounded by when you are a powerful political leader. And while some people have the ability to make peace with that (Pope Francis comes to mind), many don’t.

There is a really lot of bad reporting and writing on politics in the U.S. (and the world) these days, so it's easy to write another plop on the pile like this off. But this is really in a league of its own.

• A powerful elected official is being investigated for what looks like taking bribes.

• Political reporter Josh Barro's response: If only we gave the guy taking bribes more money in the first place—he wouldn't have taken the bribes!

I'm finding it hard to follow that. Honestly. A prominent political reporter responds to allegations of bribery by an elected public official not by focusing on that possible crime against the public—but by saying the public should give elected officials more money.

The only thing I can honestly right this second come up with for a finish: What the fuck is wrong with us?

Friday, July 5, 2013

Don't quite know how this happens, but these guys are simply unafraid of people. It's probably something that's been passed down through many generations—evidenced by the fact that these four are made up of a mating pair and their two young (they ocassionally feed them via their crops still), who they have already taught that humans like us are suckers.

Full video, with exciting (not exciting) pixellation interruptions for first minute-and-a-half:

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Fisherman Henry Liebman recently made a deep-sea catch he’ll never forget, reeling in a record-setting shortraker rockfish. Caught off the coast of Sitka, Alaska, Liebman’s fish weighed in at nearly 40 lbs. (the previous high was 38.69 pounds). That’s impressive and all, but here’s the mindblowing part: The fish is estimated to be nearly two centuries old.

News:
Troy Tidingco, Sitka area manager for the state Department of Fish and Game, said the fish is still being analyzed but he believes it is at least 200 years old. Tidingco said that would beat the current record of 175 years. Researchers are able to determine the age of a shortraker by the number of growth rings along its ear bone.

That fish has been going about its business since Abraham Lincoln was learning cursive. Maybe longer. Now, some doofus has his hands in its dead gills, smiling for press photographers.